Farmed fish labelled best by guide

The annual mobile app by conservation group Forest and Bird launched on Thursday and, for the first time, includes information on freshwater species whitebait and eel freshwater.

It is designed to help consumers make sustainable eating choices by ranking 87 New Zealand commercial seafood species according to how much damage it causes the marine environment to fish for them.

In addition to the farmed salmon, mussels, oysters and paua, the guide lists five other seafood as great choices for the dinner table. These are albacore and skipjack tuna, crayfish, cockles and pilchards.

A further 33 are in its "OK to eat" categories.

But the guide also lists 75 seafood choices that it says should be avoided because fishing for them is ecologically unsustainable.

Worst among these are orange roughy and black cardinal fish.

Forest and Bird campaigns manager Kevin Hackwell said the guide enables consumers to use their purchasing power to send a message to retailers and the fishing industry that they want sustainably fished seafood.

The fishing industry's lobby group Seafood New Zealand, however, has in past years labelled Forest and Bird's guide as misleading.

Last month, it released an alternative guide, also called Best Fish Guide, in which it presents consumers with its recommendations for sustainably fished New Zealand seafood.